New York Man Faces Sentencing For Trying To Join ISIS

The government is recommending a 15-year sentence for an upstate New York man who traveled to Turkey to try to join the Islamic State group.

Arafat Nagi faces sentencing Monday in federal court in Buffalo, where he pleaded guilty in January to attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.

Prosecutors say the 47-year-old Lackawanna man traveled to Turkey in 2012 and 2014 with plans to meet members of the Islamic State group. They say he bought body armor, a machete and night vision goggles and watched violent videos.

In pre-sentencing filings, federal prosecutors cite a history of violence and Nagi’s three-year quest to join the Islamic State group in recommending the 15-year sentence. He was planning another trip at the time of his 2015 arrest.